“Peter Fischer will remain in the minds of Georgian society as the German Ambassador who posed against the background of a fascist slogan, and who called the people who attacked a female MP and her minor child whilst chanting a fascist slogan the future of Georgia,” declared Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, at a briefing held in parliament.

In his view, Peter Fischer has dismantled thirty years of friendship between Georgia and Germany in the space of three years.

“That is how he will be remembered by Georgian society, and it is the greatest tragedy of Georgian-German relations that this man demolished thirty years of friendship in three years and reduced it to a point where today, Germany’s representative in Georgia is synonymous with abetting, inciting, and supporting violence, disinformation, and propaganda. This is a deeply regrettable state of affairs.

He also spoke, in his characteristically insolent tone, about the Deep State: ‘Where is it, then? I looked around the room, and it wasn’t there. I went to the bathroom and didn’t find it there either. He is, in effect, mocking Georgians. But I would highlight one thing: he is simultaneously mocking Americans when he suggests the Deep State is some invention; he is mocking U.S. President Trump. He is welcome to discuss that with the American Embassy. He is mocking former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who also spoke of the Deep State in Britain. In essence, he mocks everyone with his contemptuous tone.

It is truly regrettable to witness such a condescending attitude towards others from a German individual. His attitude towards Georgians is something we have grown used to and can see plainly. Yet at the same time he mocks Americans, he mocks the British, and it transpires that he alone, in his estimation, has some claim to absolute truth,” Papuashvili declared.

He went on to say that Germany’s Ambassador, Peter Fischer, had inflicted damage upon the very institution of ambassadorship itself.

“It is regrettable that, beyond the very considerable harm he has done to Georgian-German relations, he has damaged the institution of ambassadorship in general terms, and has caused Georgians to equate a foreign country’s ambassador with a houseguest who causes havoc, incites violence, incites falsehood, incites propaganda, and has effectively made the embassy a byword for a chief agitator and his second secretary.

I wish to underline that this is not a trivial matter. He himself has stated that he will be leaving Georgia before long and, in his own words, will settle into a warm armchair and observe Georgia from there. The damage he has inflicted, not only upon Georgian-German relations, but upon ambassadorship, upon the very institution of a foreign country’s ambassador, has left a deep and lasting impression on Georgians: that a foreign ambassador may be the bearer and representative of interests and aims that are actively harmful to your country. In doing so, he has damaged the entire institution of ambassadorial representation in Georgia. Were I in the shoes of other ambassadors, I would reflect carefully on this,” Papuashvili declared.